Walking towards the left-side of the forest, Ensen quickly arrived and began doing the same thing he was doing previously at the side.
Approaching a grid-like search, he started walking straight ahead while analyzing both his surroundings and where he was stepping in order to be cautious.
After about 20 minutes Ensen stumbled on the first sign of humanity here in the forest. There was a little pile of burnt wood with rather large stones surrounding it in a circular fashion. He assumed this was a campfire that hasn't been used in a long while since the nearby vegetation seemed untouched by humanity.
Deciding he wanted to check the area a little closer, he began pacing about the nearby surroundings, seeing if there were any pieces of garbage or anything left behind. But there was nothing of the sort, just burnt wood.
Not paying it much attention, he continued walking for a few minutes before deciding to take a short break. Finding a large rock with moss growing around it, Ensen sat where the surface of the rock was showing. He took off his backpack and set it on his lap. Unzipping the bag, he grabbed one of his water bottles as well as a peanut butter and jam sandwich he had made earlier.
Relaxing on the rock, Ensen began to eat the sandwich at a slightly faster pace than usual. He wanted to cover a lot more ground after all. After about three minutes he had finished his sandwich. While it wasn't the best meal, it did the trick. Taking his water bottle, he took a large swig of water before putting it back into his bag and zipping it closed.
He slowly got up while putting the bag on his back. Like this, Ensen continued walking around in the forest. After quite a bit of constant walking after his break, he stumbled upon something rather interesting yet concerning. In front of him was a rather large ravine that extended quite a bit. This ravine was not that wide, but it was considerably deep and the sudden unexpected drop would definitely be a safety concern. Luckily it was a few minutes into the forest when walking from the schoolhouse.
Taken back by his sudden discovery, Ensen became very happy that he was watching his steps so carefully. After all, if he wasn't then things might have not ended well.
This ravine wouldn't be a big issue unless they expanded closer to here in the future, but it was definitely something to take note of still.
Continuing his hike, Ensen noticed the trees began to lose their vibrance. Looking up into the sky, he noticed that it was definitely beginning to become darker.
'System, how long is left?' He thought, beginning to become uncomfortable being in the middle of the forest while it was slowly becoming night.
[Time remaining: 00:16:23]
With a sigh of relief, Ensen decided to return to where the school ground was and just follow the treeline for the remaining area he didn't manage to check.
After a few minutes he managed to see the small field in front of him, as well as his car parked near the building. Feeling more comfortable he was near his car, he continued checking the treeline. There were many sticks and rocks lying about, as well as a good amount of leaves mixed in with them.
Ensen soon finished checking the remaining treeline and was satisfied with the amount of progress he had made. Looking at the time, Ensen knew that he still had a few minutes before he could leave the forest. Finding a small turned-over log nearby, Ensen sat happily on the log and began to eat another peanut butter and jam sandwich with some water to go along with it. After he had finished the sandwich, a small blue box came into existence.
[Mission Complete: Checking forest safety]
[Rewards]
[One EP][Random item/skill (Can be opened whenever user wishes)]
Looking at the message that showed up, Ensen smiled happily and began to pack up his bag and walk towards his car. After a few minutes he managed to reach his car. Walking over to the driver's side door, he quickly unlocked it and took off his backpack. With a light toss he threw his backpack to the front passenger seat.
Getting into the car, Ensen quickly turned the car on, since he was rather cold at the moment. Noticing how comfortable the seat felt after such an exhausting hike, Ensen didn't want to move. But since he really wanted to get home, he slowly peeled the tape off of the window and took down the piece of paper, placing it on the passenger seat.
Knowing that he would soon be home and in bed, he became motivated and began to slowly drive away. After reaching the main road heading to the city, Ensen was relieved to know that the traffic wasn't too bad here.
'Thank god there's not much traffic here. Actually it was just past seven pm, why would people be heading to the city anyway?' Ensen thought while doing a mental facepalm.
After a few minutes Ensen passed, he was about to pass his favorite burger place. Temped to stop by and grab himself a meal, he decided to hold off on that as he wanted to get home as soon as he could.
Thanking the heavens for the light traffic, Ensen arrived home not too long later. Grabbing his bag out of the passenger seat, he began to make his way inside. Quickly approaching the elevator, he rode it up and unlocked the front door. Luckily he managed to not run into Kaitlin.
While he was curious about her and wanted to talk to her again, he simply didn't have the energy now.
Taking his shoes off and jacket, Ensen decided to take a long hot shower before opening his reward from the mission and checking his phone. Quickly grabbing his comfiest pair of pajamas', he took his clothes and threw them into his laundry basket.
After the shower, Ensen held in the temptation of jumping into bed, as he knew that if he laid in bed he would be asleep in a matter of seconds.
Deciding to head towards his slightly uncomfortable couch instead, he quickly sat down and looked at the rewards again.
[One EP][Random item/skill (Can be opened whenever user wishes)]
Happy with his rewards, he celebrated the addition of one more education point. He wasn't sure how much the single point was worth as he had not seen any of the shop functions for them yet, but either way he wouldn't deny gaining another one.
Curious about what he would get from the item/skill drop, Ensen slowly tapped on the reward. A large circle appeared before his eyes, the circle was divided into many sections with an image on each section. There were piano's, tennis rackets, buildings and countless other images in his view.
Overwhelmed by all the options, Ensen slowly tapped his finger on the circle thinking it would do something. Answering his touch, the circle began spinning rapidly not slowing down.
Ensen was rather confused by this. He had never really gambled before so he was unsure of what was happening. Looking at the circle with a puzzled expression, he noticed that it began to gradually slow down. After about 30 seconds, the circle began to come to a halt with a small pointer aiming at what seemed to be a pen writing on a piece of paper. Although Ensen was unsure what that meant, he was fine with having that.
But, the circle inched further and further while coming to a full stop, slowing moving towards the following section before coming to a full stop. The image for this section was a large black piano with music notes all around it. There seemed to be a rather young girl playing the piano.
Noticing the image, Ensen was unsure if it was a skill or item, but he welcomed it whole-heartedly.
[Item acquired: Paradigm Piano]
[Paradigm Piano]
[The Paradigm Piano works with the user to accelerate their learning process on many areas with the piano as long as it is nearby. Usage of the piano will allow users to experience the growth of their piano skills by an extra 20%.]
[Requirements: Must be infused into a pre-existing piano]
Intrigued by the rather impressive description of the object, Ensen thought of something that confused him.
'I thought you said you couldn't make anything of out nothing system. But even if it is using an existing piano, wouldn't it add more to it?' Ensen thought in confusion.
[The physical object itself, the piano is unchanged. The only part that is actually changed is the soul of the object. The Paradigm Piano is a soul object that will be infused into the piano object, allowing for the effects to be hidden from eyes and bypass the restrictions laid down by the universe.]
'Oh I see.' Ensen responded while in deep thought. After thinking for a while, he wanted to break into tears. His bank account was already feeling the stress, combined with an expensive piano it would hurt even more. While he could just purchase a cheap piano, he didn't know if the soul could be transferred to another piano once his Academy began to take off.
Plus, with the Paradigm Piano and the textbook that held the piano skill from earlier he knew that he would be prioritizing using the piano to develop his Academy's fame, for the near future at least.
'So I need to buy an expensive piano too!' He screamed in his mind.